With advanced technology at our fingertips, isn’t it only logical that this technology is used for HR automation so that some of these mundane and transactional tasks to a bot, freeing up the HR personnel to focus on more value-added tasks?

Technology has made huge inroads into our professional and personal lives.

And it is no wonder then that a department that hustles several transactional tasks, which are routine yet vital to the smooth running of the organization, is undergoing a major transformation with technology at the helm.

Right from recruiting skilled talent (quite a long-drawn-out process that one!), onboarding them, entering employee data into the payroll system and updating it regularly. As part of this transformation, many companies are also adopting online billing servicesto streamline their financial operations. These services help automate invoicing, payments, and expense tracking, reducing the administrative burden on HR and finance teams. Utilizing anaccurate paystub makerfurther enhances efficiency by ensuring precise and compliant payroll documentation.

Granting leaves, handling shifts, assisting employees with any documents they might need.

Preparing tons of recruiting reports to promote companies at job events, organize external/internal training for employees, gathering feedback from employees, managing internal communication with employees, the operational and functional tasks that come under the purview of Human Resources are rigorous.

From the above list of exhaustive tasks that every HR department is laden with, most rely very heavily on documentation and manual processing.

(Also read – How to begin your digital recruitment strategy)

5 types of HR automation tools

1. Pre-Recruitment HR automation

   In this article, we will focus on one of HR’s most crucial functions — recruitment. Traditionally, this has been an area that demanded a considerable chunk of the HR department’s time and efforts.

   A majority of the Millenials are familiar with how recruitment was done before the advent of technology.

   It was not very long ago that most households with job aspirants were witness to a morning routine of the aforementioned character hunched over the morning’s newspaper, armed with a pen in hand circling a few of the many job postings in the classified section while sipping a cup of piping hot coffee.

   Once the job postings were selected, the next task was to send printed copies of their resumes in neatly addressed envelopes to the addresses mentioned in the postings or at times, personally go deliver it at the organization.

   The HR department of the organization, upon receiving this application would go through it and on finding it relevant, would forward it to the manager, who would take a call on whether to proceed with the particular applicant.

   While this picture looks simple enough, in reality, there is a stark difference.

   For instance, it was not just one or two such applications that the HR department would have to go through, but several hundred for each role advertised.

   Manually going through each and every one of these was hardly time efficient if not impractical. All that changed with the advent of technology.

   While newspapers still post job ads, most of the advertising happens online on career building network sites, forums, or other forms of social media.

   Job aspirants, too, are no longer hunched over their daily newspapers, but are constantly checking for notifications about their job applications ((among other things, of course!) on their phones or laptop (with the hunching intact).

2. Post-recruitment HR automation

   Recruiters can now sift qualified candidate resumes and discover some gems in the process from the many networking sites and other sources.

   The ease of applying for a job that the internet has facilitated comes with another daunting challenge for the recruiter.

   Selecting the right candidate from a sea of qualified and skilled applicants would be akin to fishing with a handy little fishing rod (to take the analogy further)!

   Let’s take a look at some specific areas of recruitment where automation can assist the HR to make the entire process easier, faster, and better.

3. Resume screening automation

   The task of manually filtering through scores of resumes to find the ideal candidate is a daunting one, with a recruiter spending on average 23 hours screening resumes for a single hire!

   Around 52 percent of talent acquisition leaders consider resume screening to be the hardest and most time-consuming part of recruitment.

   It is for this reason that recruiters are turning to technology that goes a long way to alleviate this burden. With the help of data-driven automation software and applicant tracking systems, companies are able to function efficiently even when faced with a barrage of resumes.

   This intelligent software empowers the HR team to screen a select few candidates who meet their requirements.

   However, many industry experts such as Lou Adler, CEO of Search and Training firm The Adler Group, believe that today’s prevalent technology is ‘still about weeding out the weak rather than finding the best’.

   Volume recruiters would beg to disagree since they consider these software invaluable tools that enable them to focus on more value-adding tasks.

4. Talent assessment automation

   Manually keeping an applicant updated throughout the recruitment process is yet another one of those crucial yet challenging tasks that the HR team struggles with.

   Considering the importance job seekers place on being regularly updated (67 percent reported to have a positive impression of the company that gave them consistent updates according to data from CareerBuilder).

   What better way to communicate with the applicant in a consistent manner than to engage them in some important pre-qualification information pertaining to their location, compensation, intent, and special skills if any?

   Not only would this be helpful in understanding the candidate better, but it would also engage the candidate during the recruitment process.

   An intelligent chatbot can handle the task of asking repetitive questions to candidates, thus engaging the candidate as well as enabling the recruiter to focus on other tasks.

   (Also read – 5 reasons you should use talent assessment software)

5. Interview process automation

   Interviewing a candidate to get the best out of him/her requires skill, tact, and intuition among other qualities, which an interviewer may not always be blessed with.

   How many times have we sat across an interviewer, wiping sticky sweat across our brows and upper lip (ughh…), under his agonizing gaze, trying to form coherent sentences that would make even our weaknesses look like our strengths!
   

   This is not to say that all interviews are disasters, but with human biases aplenty, understanding a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, his/her passion is not an easy task.

   Automation can help recruiters immensely in this respect — recruitment interviews conducted in collaboration with digitized interview technology equipped to assess factors such as their word choices, speech patterns, and even facial expressions can help decide how well a candidate will fit the role.

   Apart from these benefits, automated recruitment software also empowers candidates to schedule interviews as per their convenience at home or a venue of their choice.

   (Also read- How to improve your recruitment process using skill assessment)

HR automation software, a necessity?

As discussed above, automation of certain processes pertaining to resume screening, pre-qualification, and interviews make the entire process efficient and provide a positive experience to the candidate as well.

According to Ideal, a virtual recruitment assistant, a great example of HR automation aiding in recruitment is the iconic British clothing retailer M&S, who created over 35,000 job vacancies by automating the entire process, manually supported only by two human touch points making it an extremely efficient process and garnering a whopping 98% rating from its users!

Apart from providing a positive experience to the candidate, technology is helping recruiters with their administrative burden drastically.

With an ever-increasing hiring volume (56 percent according to a survey of talent acquisition leaders) but with 66 percent of recruitment teams remaining the same size, automation can help ease the burden on HR personnel.

(Also read – What are common mistakes in tech hiring)

Recent studies have revealed that some of the best-in-class recruitment practices involve reaching out to candidates long before they apply (or even sense the need for a job change) for the position.

More and more organizations are opting to engage and educate potential talent about the opportunities they offer, a paradigm shift from a traditional recruiter to a strategic one that follows proactive recruiting.

According to Aptitude Research partners, a Boston-based analyst, and advisory firm, this strategic shift is also resulting in close to 70 percent of enterprise companies investing in these functions.

This transformation of HR from an administrative facilitator to a strategic partner has been made possible thanks to a technological collaboration.

Boon for some, bane for others, it is imperative to understand that automation, when strategically applied to one’s recruitment process, can yield significant results.

Automate your hiring process using HackerEarth’s Talent Assessment Software

Companies have found an increase in the number of applications from PwDs when application processes including tests are adjusted to accommodate their needs. Fujitsu, the leading Japanese IT products, and services provider noted a 3.4% increase in the proportion of applications from candidates with disabilities when they made small changes to their recruitment process including asking for information about disability and reasonable adjustments early-on in the application process.

Delivery of tests is incomplete without appropriate assessment. The next step to successfully recruiting PwDs is the accurate interpretation of test results. But have answers to such questions ready. Is there any difference in the criteria for gauging performance? How should the test evaluation match the accommodations made during the test (extra time allotted, the presence of external reader, etc.)?

Comparing apples to apples: Interpreting test results

Talent assessment tests are standardized, which makes it easier to test multiple applicants with the same yardstick for performance. Interpreting results of tests that have been tweaked to allow for different abilities are complex because each person and his/her test result is unique. However, there are certain guidelines which can help during interpretation of results.

• If test times were extended for an applicant, then employers must look at accuracy and test performance at different time limits, and under different sections. This should be compared with the aspects of the job that is highly relevant to the test, to get a true measure of performance. For instance, a test taker took an additional 30 minutes to complete a test that contained analytical, mathematical, verbal, and critical reasoning sections. When the evaluators took a closer look, they found that he had completed the analytical section faster compared to the rest of the test, the applicant will move to the next stage provided analytical skills are considered crucial for the role that he had applied for.
• It is incorrectly assumed that while comparing test results, one should use a norm group of applicants with the same disability. This is because two people with the same disability are affected by it in two different ways. The best approach is to use a standard norm group, with or without disabilities, and compare performance to the job requirements.
• When using psychometric tests to gauge personality, they should be analyzed in the standard way. There isn’t any difference in how these standard tests are interpreted for persons with or without disabilities.

As soon as a job vacancy arises, the job description should be evaluated by HR reps (after undergoing training on the disability types and degrees) to study possibilities of inclusion. (Also read: How not to write a job post) The next step is to open up the position on the website and job boards for people with or without disabilities. When people with disabilities express interest, companies can use talent assessments to make the application process convenient for them. While technology is a great enabler for recruiting people with disabilities, employers must know that the results from tests and questionnaires don’t work in silos, and only make up a small slice of the overall recruitment pie. The test results, however, need to be followed-up by interviews and any other suitable steps to determine if the candidate is a good fit for the role.

As a whole, the recruitment process has to be made more convenient and accessible to encourage more PwDs to apply for jobs within companies. When designing job descriptions, or deciding on the types of assessments to use, or the interview process, companies must think of how they can make adjustments to the environment or the process to encourage more people with disabilities to apply for roles.

Hire unbiased using Talent Assessment Software. Scale your hiring process 10X!

Companies such as Shiseido, Komatsu, Nissan, and Sony send top executives for an international stint to broaden their experience and skill set.

HR can ensure training of core employees to successfully function globally, be comfortable in cross-cultural settings, and be able to make sensible, management decisions independently.

For foreign ops, employees hired locally also need to be given career advancement and rotational opportunities and not just left to higher management, which is mostly Japanese.

• Doing more than recruiting and internal placement

Traditional HR philosophies are not helping to manage a younger or diverse workforce.

HR can enforce policies where Japanese employees are required to communicate with foreign co-workers in English (as Mitsubishi Corp. does). HR should identify employees (regardless of their nationality) who can be pushed for global executive training and deployed overseas.

HR needs to create a compelling employer brand to attract the right talent. A Gallup survey shows that Japan has a really low (7%) percentage of engaged people.

HR professionals must address issues such as long working hours, low take-home pay, rigid corporate culture, seniority-based promotion, harassment, and unfair reward systems to reduce disengagement.

Long-term engagement will result in more actively engaged employees, lower attrition, and better productivity due to increased motivation.

The current business landscape in Japan

How HackerEarth can make your talent search easier in Japan?

Conclusion

HR has to work with the business leaders to ensure the success of their initiatives—flexibility, skill-based recognition, self-development, challenging work opportunities, social projects, strong language skills, diversity, candidate experience, and individual enterprise.

Japan has gone from being a seller’s market to a buyer’s one. Potential recruits are asking more questions and are more focused on individual career advancement than before.

Source: Japan Today

“Recruitment today is about processes, technology, and people who represent your brand and messages on your behalf,” says Lanis Yarzab, VP Asia–Pacific operations, Pontoon Solutions.

HR need to actively build an attractive employee brand and showcase the company culture via social channels to ensure that a consistent, positive message is delivered.

Japanese companies are ripe for the automation of the recruitment processes such as screening and some unbiased, skill-specific hiring which can leave the HR to deal with more value-adding services.

Instead of developing talent (not buying) or leveraging internal talent through job rotation, HR needs to use tools for objective assessment and do some strategic workforce planning if organizations are to stay innovative.

Hire talent in your organization with HackerEarth Recruit. Be unbiased.

A vestige of a by-gone colonial era, our modern-day education system, with its outdated teaching methodology and questionable assessment modules, is in dire need of an overhaul.

Although it permeates our everyday lives, technology in education is yet to impact our systems in an effective and meaningful manner.

If one were to compare today’s classrooms to those 20 or 30 years back, there wouldn’t be any substantial difference in the way subjects were taught or the assessment methodologies adopted to gauge its effectiveness.

The latter in particular has been completely unaffected by technology, and we are going to explore the reasons behind this.

Why the unwillingness to adopt online assessment in education?

A majority of professors use technology in education primarily to better plan their lessons and make more engaging presentations.

When it comes to tests or assessments, however, they opt for the same antiquated pen-and-paper routine.

While it is understandable that you shun technology to assess a literature paper, it is difficult to understand why technology is not judiciously used to assess students of engineering or similar technical streams.

Let’s look at some of the reasons and possible solutions to address them.

1. Lack of training

   According to a 2006 study by Hew and Brush, one of the primary obstacles to adopting technology in education was inadequate knowledge and skills.

   A prerequisite for using traditional software tools was a fair amount of technical know-how and skill.

   Those unfortunate ones who weren’t in possession of such skills had to be trained to use these tools, which was a time consuming and expensive affair and might explain the reluctance that most educational institutions have towards adopting such technology extensively.

   However, the newer breed of technology tools, with their intuitive designs and interface, and faster onboarding experience makes it effortless to adapt and adopt.

2. Pressure to confirm

   The brave souls who do try to do things differently are almost always frowned upon by traditionalists, who are reluctant to change their ways.

   There are two possible outcomes to being subjected to this sort of pressure — they either keep fighting the good fight till others see merit in their newer ways, or they succumb to the pressure and give up.

   However, a technology that is effortless to operate can help in turning even the hardest cynics into supporters of technical assessments

3. Changes needed at a policy level

   In any classroom, there are typically two forms of assessments conducted — formative, conducted over the course of teaching to monitor student learning, and summative that are the standard tests or exams conducted at the end of a term or semester to evaluate student learning by comparing it against a benchmark.

   While colleges or schools can take liberties by conducting formative assessments to gauge how well a student understands a concept, it cannot substitute a tech assessment with a summative one that is conducted in accordance with the board of education, unless thus approved by the board.

   Changes at a policy level to technically transform traditional assessment, however, can ensure that our students are assessed effectively and comprehensively.

4. Test-centric mindset needs to change

   At a very fundamental level, we define academic achievement by how well someone does on a standardized test.

   Our education system is also designed to help achieve better test results rather than helping students understand a concept clearly.

   Introducing a tech assessment model requires a shift in mindset where we assess the student to better understand his weak areas and strengths and then use those parameters to design teaching to be most effective.

   Most technical assessment tools come built-in with data-driven analytics that allows its users to comprehensively analyze the progress made by each student.

   Such comprehensive and relevant reports can go a long way in convincing our educators to change their approach towards assessments in general.

Benefits of online assessment tools in education

Creating assessments for the entire class, not once or twice a year but repeatedly year after year is a tedious routine that our teachers/professors undertake.

However, their work doesn’t end there.

After creating these assessments in a variety of forms, the next task is grading them and providing appropriate feedback for the entire class and that too, in a timely manner.

It is in this context that digital tools come in handy.

Authors Ros Smith and Lisa Gray’s 2016 guide on enhancing assessment through technology explains the lifecycle of assessment and feedback.

According to them, most educators use technology mostly during the ‘Supporting’ stage of the lifecycle, whereas, technology can add considerable value at the ‘Submitting’, ‘Marking and production of feedback’ stages as well.

For instance, during the submitting stage, not only can the software give reminders of upcoming submission date, but students can also conveniently submit their assignment online without having to physically hand-in their assignments.

During the marking and feedback stages, educators are presented with the advantage of not having to carry around the bulky bundles of assessments, and instead access it online anywhere.

Tech assessments also ensure consistency in marking, along with the option to provide written, audio or video feedback comments.

Let’s explore a few other advantages of using online assessment tools.

1. Built-in flexibility to assess an array of skills and competence

   The design flexibility that most tech assessments come with, presents educators with the opportunity to assess a wide range of skills and competency in their students that are far and beyond what any standardized test can offer.

   Apart from testing students on a range of skills, this type of online assessment tool closely simulates real-world scenarios.

2. Transparency in marking

   Tech assessments typically come programmed with the option to specify marking criteria, based on which tests are typically graded.

   These criteria are transparent to all and make for an unbiased and impartial grading system.

3. Delivery schedule can be timed

   Online assessments tools can be customized to deliver assessments as per a specific schedule (bimonthly or weekly, for instance) with minimal input from teachers, thus offloading a lot of their workload.

   Apart from a delivery schedule, these assessments can be customized to automatically mark or grade the submissions, further reducing the workload for the teachers and making the grading system more efficient.

4. Enables deeper learning

   Thanks to the efficiency of such assessments coupled with its precise feedback, students, and teachers can target both strengths and weakness and promote deeper learning of concepts.

   This form of learning builds genuine interest to pursue a subject which also reflects in improved results in subsequent assessments.

5. Customizationfor students with disabilities or learning difficulties

   Technology can make it simpler for students with disabilities or learning difficulties to perform better during assessments by customizing it as per their needs or requirements.

   For instance, one can opt to take the assessment in an audio/visual format, or customize the presentation of the assessment by tweaking the font, text size, etc as per individual need, thus ensuring a level playing field for all those involved.

6. Other benefits of online assessment tools

   Apart from the above-mentioned benefits, tech assisted assessments also gives students the opportunity to access it from anywhere or anytime.

   Ease of customization also ensures that based on statistics of performance, each course module can be tweaked as required.

   The timely manner in which results are published also enables teachers to review their lessons and courses much more effectively.

Using the right online assessment in education for the right purpose at the right time

While the merits far outweigh any drawbacks that this form of online assessment has, the main concern many expresses is regarding the technical support required in an event of a software issue cropping up.

This would delay a scheduled assessment from taking place and throw a spanner into a process that has been set in motion.

There is also some concern about how technology can bring about a more pronounced student-teacher gap because of the high levels of automation possible in these tools.

But what we all need to realize is that technology is a double-edged sword, there are bound to be several concerns over such a large-scale implementation, but if used judiciously and with discretion, it has the power to unlock a gold mine of opportunities.

While top companies like Amazon, Walmart, Accenture, and other fortunes 500 companies are building campus recruitment strategies.

It is essential for school and universities to train their students for the assessment of futures.

Learn how HackerEarth had helped Universities develop their learning and development program with online Assessment

A report on the National Employability of Engineers released last year by Aspiring Minds showed that a mere 3.67% of software engineers are employable for large-sized companies. Other statistics show that 90.72% of graduating engineers do not have the programming and algorithm skills desired by IT product companies, 72.77% lack soft-skills, and 59.40% lack cognitive skills.

With such dismal numbers, how do you test developers who are graduate or senior engineers with the right mix of skills to fulfill your requirements? In this article, we will talk about the hiring process for developers with the required talent for your company and what to focus on when hiring fresh and senior engineers.

Regardless of the level, you’re recruiting for, the first step is the same — defining your requirements in the form of skills needed and roles and responsibilities to be performed.

“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Just like Alice, you will have trouble getting to your destination — finding the perfect candidates — if the path or requirements are not well-defined. Once you have defined the requirements, you can start the hiring process for your candidates.

Difference between senior and junior developers

Understanding the distinction between senior and junior developers is crucial for tailoring the hiring process effectively. These differences span various aspects, including:

Hiring Process for a Fresh Graduate

Since a degree is clearly not a relevant measure of employability, it is critical that the hiring process is able to ascertain in other ways whether the candidate has the right skills and is a good fit for the company. It should check whether the candidate has technical acumen along with necessary soft skills such as the communication and interpersonal skills to work in a team. The hiring process for a fresh engineer looks something like this:

Sourcing

The first step in the hiring process is to source the right candidates for the job. You could try campus placements, use outside recruiters who do the sourcing for you or use inbound recruitment techniques to attract the right candidates. Any or all of these sources could give you a pool of candidates for consideration.

in this FastCompany article, Keawe Block, a recruiter at Google, says that they look for candidates who have experience at hackathons, coding competitions, or have had programming assignments at work. Check the resumes to see what coding languages they know, and what relevant internships they might have done. These give an insight into their technical acumen which can be tested further in the next stages.

Screening

You have a targeted pool of potential recruits. The next step is to filter them further by testing these candidates on their technical skills. Alternatively, you can use tools (such as HackerEarth Recruit) which have an online coding test, that allows you to check scores in real-time and use detailed test reports to analyze performance.

Selection

Depending on the job requirement, this could be an interview or a series of interviews with supervisors and peers. If your engineers are expected to work in an agile environment, your questions should check for whether the candidate is a team player, is patient, and resilient as she would be working for long periods of time with the rest of the team. Check mainly for “fit,” whether you see the person blending in and growing with the company.

Lastly, it does not matter if the candidate is not a full-stack developer, as long as she demonstrates a willingness to learn and has the right attitude. Technical requirements of companies are ever-changing, and any skills one has today might be rendered redundant tomorrow.

Hiring Process for a Senior Developer

The hiring process for a senior developer differs vastly from that of a fresh graduate. For starters, the emphasis is on experience and accomplishments in past roles. The other vital difference is in sourcing senior managers, which is much more challenging because of the limited pool of qualified senior engineers available.

The hiring process for a senior developer looks something like this:

Sourcing

With fresh engineers, there is a problem of plenty; with senior engineers, the opposite holds true. There are few engineers at the senior level who have skills that you need, and they might not be motivated to switch jobs. Referrals are the perhaps the best approach to attract candidates in this case as they referrals a mutual interest from both the employer and the potential hire. You can also use inbound recruitment techniques, such as your website and social media handles, to advertise and invite candidates to apply. Alternatively, you can use recruiters to do the sourcing for you.

Screening

The quickest way to screen candidates is to conduct telephonic interviews where you can ask them for further details about their experience and skills. A more detailed way to check their acumen would be to assign a coding test, allocate some time to work on it and do a review with them. This gives you a chance to see them in action and judge their ability in a practical manner.

Selection

The selection involves interviews with the top management. The number of interviews is usually lesser for a senior engineer than a fresh graduate. The interview will focus on the candidate’s experience and how that might be relevant to the role that the candidate is being interviewed for. The interview should focus on how he has demonstrated leadership skills in the past with relevant examples. A candidate that attends conferences and technology meet-ups indicates that she’s in touch with changing technology trends.

No One-Size-Fits-all-Solution

Since the requirements for graduates and senior engineers are different, the skills tested and the hiring process cannot be the same for both. While you look for leadership skills, stability, and relevant experience for a senior engineer; you look for aptitude, a willingness to learn, and culture fit while hiring fresh engineers. As stated above, it all needs to tie back to the company’s requirements. A vital point of difference is also negotiations with senior candidates. It is difficult to make the switch if they don’t get the salary they’re looking for. With fresh graduates, because of the abundant supply, it is possible to find someone in your budget, but with senior engineers, the salary must be lucrative enough, hence the negotiations take longer.

If you are looking for a recruitment solution to efficiently hire fresh and senior talent for your organization, sign up for a free trial of HackerEarth Recruit